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Functional MRI of cortex in sedated 18 month-old infants with or without periventricular leukomalacia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2001

L T L Sie ,
S A R B Rombouts ,
J Valk ,
A A M Hart ,
Ph Scheltens  and
M S van der Knaap
L T L Sie
Affiliation:
Department of Child Neurology, University Hospital, ‘Vrije Universiteit’, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
S A R B Rombouts
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Physics and Informatics, University Hospital, ‘Vrije Universiteit’, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
J Valk
Affiliation:
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University Hospital, ‘Vrije Universiteit’, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
A A M Hart
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Academic Medical Center, The Netherlands.
Ph Scheltens
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, University Hospital, ‘Vrije Universiteit’, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
M S van der Knaap
Affiliation:
Department of Child Neurology, University Hospital, ‘Vrije Universiteit’, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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Abstract

Functional MRI (fMRI) of the visual cortex was evaluated in 42 sedated 18-month-old infants (mean corrected age; 31 males, 11 females) with or without periventricular leukomalacia (PVL). Data from 14 infants could not be evaluated because of movement artefacts. Ten of the remaining 28 infants showed no significant fMRI response upon visual stimulation. In 18 infants, a significant signal change upon stimulation was found in the visual cortex: in 17 a signal decrease and in one a signal increase. Functional changes were located mainly in the anterior part of the visual cortex. Seven of the 28 infants had normal MRI and 21 showed variable occipital PVL. An fMRI response was equally frequent in infants without PVL (4 of 7 infants) and with PVL (14 of 21 infants). In conclusion, fMRI was shown to be feasible in sedated infants. No correlation was found between functional activation and the presence or absence of occipital PVL. Type of fMRI response (signal decrease) and localization (anterior part of the visual cortex) are different from those seen in adults, probably reflecting a combination of sedation effects and immaturity of the visual system. At present, fMRI is a highly promising research tool; its clinical relevance still has to be established.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology , Volume 43 , Issue 7 , July 2001 , pp. 486 - 490
Copyright
© 2001 Mac Keith Press

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